Over One Billion Served: New Conceptual Photography from the People’s Republic of China is the first comprehensive exhibition of contemporary Chinese photography and artists in the United States. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Asian Coordinating Council, Denver, Colorado.

Over One Billion Served centers on three themes. In The McDonaldization of China issues of capitalism and consumerism, influences of American culture and products, are explored. Here images speak to westernization, the consequences of globalization, and how capitalism disrupts cultural histories and traditions to create an ethos of anxiety, ambivalence, and a rise in nationalism. Images with brands such as Coke and McDonalds express both the ubiquity and power of Western influence. In Power Politics we see the effects ofgovernment policies—one-child families, fast-paced urbanism that disregards historic structures in favor of modernization, public health crisis’ from disease to addiction, lacking environmentalism leading to rampart population, and, in general, repressive politics that frame the social conditions of daily life. Strangers in the Cities represents artists directly responding to China’s economic policies and their profound social and political impacts. Labor force migration from villages and farms to cities alters identity and self-expression to radically transform concepts of individuality within the new metropolis.

Banner Image: Zhang Huan, Family Tree, (detail), 2000, from a series of nine chromogenic prints.